Francis Charles Robert Jourdain was born on 4 March 1865 at Adenshaw Lodge, near Manchester. He was educated at Ashbourne Grammar School and Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1887. Following his ordination in 1890, he served as vicar of Clifton-by-Ashbourne, Derbyshire, from 1894 until 1914 when he was appointed rector of Appleton, Berkshire. Interested in ornithology, he collaborated on A practical handbook of British birds, published in two volumes in 1919 and 1924, and later The handbook of British birds, published in five volumes between 1938 and 1941. He acted as assistant editor and, from 1917 to 1919, editor of the journal British Birds.

In 1921, Jourdain served as leader of the Oxford University Spitsbergen Expedition, organized to conduct mainly ornithological work along the north-west coast of Spitsbergen and to attempt to sledge across the ice cap of central Spitsbergen. Owing to delays and illness, the sledging party was obliged to turn back from a point about halfway across the ice cap. Jourdain published the scientific results of the expedition on his return in 1921. After his retirement from his Berkshire parish in 1925, he devoted most of his time to ornithology, travelling widely in Europe and North Africa collecting eggs and studying breeding habits and distribution. He died on 27 February 1940 at Bournemouth.

Published work: 'Birds of Spitsbergen' by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain in Transactions of the Oxford University Junior Science Club volume 3 number 8 (1922) SPRI Library Shelf (32)91(08)[1921 Oxford University Expedition] Scientific results of the first Oxford University expedition to Spitsbergen (1921) by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain, Oxford University Press Oxford (1925) SPRI Library Shelf (32)91(08)[1921 Oxford University Expedition]